Tuesday, April 23
Morgantown, W.Va.
7:00 p.m.
West Virginia University
vs
Penn State
Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
No. 17 WVU Hosts Penn State Tuesday
April 22, 2019 06:00 PM | Baseball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The No. 17 West Virginia University baseball team concludes its homestand against Penn State on Tuesday, April 23, at 7 p.m. ET, at Monongalia County Ballpark.
Tickets are available at WVUGAME.com, by calling 1-800-WVU GAME or on game day at Monongalia County Ballpark. Admission for WVU students is free with a valid student I.D.
Tuesday is a Dollar Night, with tickets and select concession items available for just $1, and a Gold Rush. The first 500 fans will receive a foam finger, and all fans can play Baseball Bingo to win prizes.
The Mountaineers (24-14) have won 10 of their last 13 games and are coming off a series win over Kansas, their fourth consecutive series victory. West Virginia is ranked for the second consecutive week and moved up to No. 17 in this week's D1Baseball top-25. WVU, which is ranked in each major poll, also rose seven spots to No. 18 in the Baseball America rankings.
The Nittany Lions (17-18) come to Morgantown after suffering a series sweep at Illinois. PSU owns a 4-2 mark in midweek outings.
Tuesday's matchup in Morgantown comes a week after the two clubs were rained out last week in a scheduled contest in State College, Pennsylvania.
FOLLOWING ALONG
There are a number of ways to follow along with Tuesday's action, with Dan Zangrilli and Ernie Galusky on the call.
MOUNTAINEERS MOVE UP IN NATIONAL RANKINGS
For the second consecutive week, WVU is in the national rankings, appearing in all six major top-25 polls.
SCOUTING PENN STATE
Penn State is 17-18 on the season and 1-13 in Big Ten action. The Nittany Lions own a 6-8 mark at home while they are 4-8 on the road and 7-2 at a neutral site. PSU comes to Morgantown after getting swept at Illinois over the weekend.
Jordan Bowersox leads the Nittany Lions with a .346 batting average, 46 hits, 24 runs and a .459 slugging percentage in 133 at-bats. Gavin Homer and Kris Kremer are tied for the team lead with four home runs. On the mound, Dante Biasi has a team-high 1.75 ERA in 56.2 innings pitched. Mason Mellott leads the pitching staff with four victories and 15 appearances this season.
In his sixth season at Penn State, Rob Cooper has compiled a 114-178 record in University Park and a 400-408 mark in 15 years as a head coach. Under Cooper's guidance, four Penn State players have been drafted and five have signed with MLB teams in the last three years.
SERIES HISTORY VS. THE NITTANY LIONS
West Virginia is 43-69 all-time against Penn State, 24-26 at home, 15-42 in State College and 4-1 at a neutral site. The Mountaineers have won the last two meetings, both at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. WVU won the first matchup at the home of the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-2 in 2017, before a 3-2, walk-off win in 10 innings in 2018.
Chase Illig drove in the game-winning run with a 10th-inning, two-out single last year. WVU scored two runs in the first before PSU tallied one in the third and another in the ninth to tie it at 2-2. Reliever Sam Kessler earned the win after he got a groundout to strand the bases loaded in the top of the 10th. Darius Hill led the Mountaineers with two hits, had an RBI and scored two runs, including the game winner.
LAST TIME OUT: ANOTHER BIG 12 SERIES WIN
WVU secured its fourth consecutive series victory with a pair of wins against Kansas this weekend at Monongalia County Ballpark. The Mountaineers played their fifth doubleheader of the season on April 20 and recorded a pair of walk-off wins, 1-0 in the opener and 4-3 in 11 innings in the nightcap, before a 6-5 defeat in the finale on April 21.
ON DECK: WVU TRAVELS TO TEXAS
West Virginia continues Big 12 play this weekend at Texas, from April 26-28. The series in Austin, Texas, begins on Friday, April 26, at 7:30 p.m. ET/6:30 p.m. CT, and continues on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. CT. The finale at Disch-Falk Field is set for Sunday at 1 p.m. ET/noon CT. All three games will be broadcast live on the Longhorn Network.
Single game tickets and flex plan mini-packages for the 2019 season are on sale now. Fans can join the excitement of WVU baseball and support the Mountaineers by purchasing tickets at WVUGAME.com, calling 1-800-WVU GAME or visiting the Mountaineer Ticket Office at the WVU Coliseum.
For more information on the Mountaineers, follow WVU Baseball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Tickets are available at WVUGAME.com, by calling 1-800-WVU GAME or on game day at Monongalia County Ballpark. Admission for WVU students is free with a valid student I.D.
Tuesday is a Dollar Night, with tickets and select concession items available for just $1, and a Gold Rush. The first 500 fans will receive a foam finger, and all fans can play Baseball Bingo to win prizes.
The Mountaineers (24-14) have won 10 of their last 13 games and are coming off a series win over Kansas, their fourth consecutive series victory. West Virginia is ranked for the second consecutive week and moved up to No. 17 in this week's D1Baseball top-25. WVU, which is ranked in each major poll, also rose seven spots to No. 18 in the Baseball America rankings.
The Nittany Lions (17-18) come to Morgantown after suffering a series sweep at Illinois. PSU owns a 4-2 mark in midweek outings.
Tuesday's matchup in Morgantown comes a week after the two clubs were rained out last week in a scheduled contest in State College, Pennsylvania.
FOLLOWING ALONG
There are a number of ways to follow along with Tuesday's action, with Dan Zangrilli and Ernie Galusky on the call.
- The game will be streamed live for free on WVUsports.com/Watch and the WVU Gameday App, while fans also can watch the stream live via Roku and Apple TV by searching for the "West Virginia Mountaineers" channel.
- Fans can listen to the game on the Mountaineer Sports Network from Learfield IMG College on various affiliates throughout the state, while fans across the country can tune into the broadcast online at WVUsports.com/Watch and on the WVU Gameday and TuneIn Radio Apps.
- Live stats can be found at WVUsports.com/Stats.
- Direct links to video and radio streams and live stats are available on the baseball schedule page on WVUsports.com.
- Additional behind-the-scenes updates, news and notes can be found on social media by following and connecting with the team on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @WVUBaseball.
MOUNTAINEERS MOVE UP IN NATIONAL RANKINGS
For the second consecutive week, WVU is in the national rankings, appearing in all six major top-25 polls.
- The Mountaineers move up to No. 17 in this week's D1Baseball poll and No. 18 in the Baseball America top-25. WVU is No. 20 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) rankings and the Coaches Poll, No. 22 in the Perfect Game top-25 and enters the Collegiate Baseball rankings at No. 30.
- West Virginia's No. 17 ranking is its highest since 1982, when the Mountaineers finished the 1982 season No. 16 in the final Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll. WVU is ranked in back-to-back weeks for the first time since April 2017.
- The Mountaineers' appearance in this week's polls is the fifth time they have been ranked since 1982, with all five appearances, twice in 2017 and 2019 and once in 2018, coming under seventh-year coach Randy Mazey.
- WVU is one of five Big 12 Conference teams ranked in at least one national poll this week.
SCOUTING PENN STATE
Penn State is 17-18 on the season and 1-13 in Big Ten action. The Nittany Lions own a 6-8 mark at home while they are 4-8 on the road and 7-2 at a neutral site. PSU comes to Morgantown after getting swept at Illinois over the weekend.
Jordan Bowersox leads the Nittany Lions with a .346 batting average, 46 hits, 24 runs and a .459 slugging percentage in 133 at-bats. Gavin Homer and Kris Kremer are tied for the team lead with four home runs. On the mound, Dante Biasi has a team-high 1.75 ERA in 56.2 innings pitched. Mason Mellott leads the pitching staff with four victories and 15 appearances this season.
In his sixth season at Penn State, Rob Cooper has compiled a 114-178 record in University Park and a 400-408 mark in 15 years as a head coach. Under Cooper's guidance, four Penn State players have been drafted and five have signed with MLB teams in the last three years.
SERIES HISTORY VS. THE NITTANY LIONS
West Virginia is 43-69 all-time against Penn State, 24-26 at home, 15-42 in State College and 4-1 at a neutral site. The Mountaineers have won the last two meetings, both at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. WVU won the first matchup at the home of the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-2 in 2017, before a 3-2, walk-off win in 10 innings in 2018.
Chase Illig drove in the game-winning run with a 10th-inning, two-out single last year. WVU scored two runs in the first before PSU tallied one in the third and another in the ninth to tie it at 2-2. Reliever Sam Kessler earned the win after he got a groundout to strand the bases loaded in the top of the 10th. Darius Hill led the Mountaineers with two hits, had an RBI and scored two runs, including the game winner.
LAST TIME OUT: ANOTHER BIG 12 SERIES WIN
WVU secured its fourth consecutive series victory with a pair of wins against Kansas this weekend at Monongalia County Ballpark. The Mountaineers played their fifth doubleheader of the season on April 20 and recorded a pair of walk-off wins, 1-0 in the opener and 4-3 in 11 innings in the nightcap, before a 6-5 defeat in the finale on April 21.
- For the second consecutive week, junior right-hander Alek Manoah threw a complete-game shutout with 15 strikeouts, as he allowed just three hits with no walks in the opener. Junior first baseman Marques Inman provided the only offense Manoah needed with a walk-off home run to lead off the ninth inning.
- WVU walked off the second game on Saturday, 4-3 in 11 innings, as a wild pitch scored the game-winning run. Following a 2:40 weather delay at the end of the sixth inning, West Virginia took a 3-1 lead in the eighth, but Kansas tied the game at 3-3 on a two-out, two-RBI single in the ninth. Freshman left fielder/third baseman Phillip Dull was one of four Mountaineers with two hits, his first career multi-hit game, and he added an eighth-inning RBI single. Sophomore catcher Paul McIntosh added his team-best eighth home run in the sixth inning.
- West Virginia rallied late in Sunday's finale, but lost a 6-5 contest. WVU came back with four runs on five hits in the eighth inning to make it a one-run game, and put two on with two outs in the ninth, but the Jayhawks avoided the sweep. Kansas took a 3-0 lead in the first inning before West Virginia scored one in the second, and KU made it 5-1 in the fifth and 6-1 in the seventh. WVU, which was held to four hits in the first six innings, had a pair of two-out hits in the seventh before cutting the deficit to one in the eighth to make it 6-5.
ON DECK: WVU TRAVELS TO TEXAS
West Virginia continues Big 12 play this weekend at Texas, from April 26-28. The series in Austin, Texas, begins on Friday, April 26, at 7:30 p.m. ET/6:30 p.m. CT, and continues on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. CT. The finale at Disch-Falk Field is set for Sunday at 1 p.m. ET/noon CT. All three games will be broadcast live on the Longhorn Network.
Single game tickets and flex plan mini-packages for the 2019 season are on sale now. Fans can join the excitement of WVU baseball and support the Mountaineers by purchasing tickets at WVUGAME.com, calling 1-800-WVU GAME or visiting the Mountaineer Ticket Office at the WVU Coliseum.
For more information on the Mountaineers, follow WVU Baseball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Players Mentioned
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